Schools
Wage Freeze, State Reimbursements Helped East Penn Budget
State initially slashed $2 million from district funding, but $557,000 was restored.
East Penn was pondering a possible 4.8 percent tax increase in February when the school district approved its $122 million preliminary budget for 2011-2012.
That was before Gov. Tom Corbett’s state education budget proposal slashed about $2 million in funding from the district.
While Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger said Wednesday that the school board knew that initial budget was more of a formality than a realistic spending plan, the road to a true budget would be that much more painful.
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After a difficult budget season of considering ways to cut spending, the district finally passed a $120 million budget on June 27. That budget includes a 1.8 percent real estate tax increase.
Chief among the savings was district employees taking a wage freeze for next year, which saved about $2.4 million.
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Another factor was $557,000 in state cuts that were restored, including about $343,000 in Social Security payments for district employees and about $214,000 in ABG grants.
Seidenberger said he was assured by state Sen. Bob Mensch and state Reps. Pat Browne and Doug Reichley in June that the $557,000 would be restored. He said he was confident enough in those anticipated funds to include them in the 2011-2012 budget.
The employee concessions, state reimbursements and cost-cutting measures allowed the district to trim its budget, maintain programs and reduce the real estate tax hike to 1.8 percent.
It also allowed the district to maintain a budgetary reserve of nearly 5.76 million, over the 5 percent needed to maintain a favorable bond rating.
“We thank [our employees],” Seidenberger said. “They did the right thing.”
One refund the district did not get back from the state -- and “the one I’m most frosted about,” Seidenberger said Wednesday -- was close to $600,000 in charter school refunds. Typically a school district would recoup 30 percent of its costs for charter schools, but not under the new state education budget.
He said that any school choice legislation coming out of Harrisburg could pose further strain on future budgets.
“Our concern now is about vouchers,” Seidenberg said. “How will that work out? [The funding for] charter schools didn’t work out for us.”